May 14 – May 18, 2016

Shikoku Island

Takamatsu and Naoshima

After wandering the art museum in Kyoto, I got back on the shinkansen (bullet train) and headed to Takamatsu on Shikoku Island. I read about Shikoku on an off the beaten path travel guide for Japan (link for anyone interested…I actually used this as my guide). I would describe Shikoku as the island that tourists forgot. The article describes is as “one of Japan’s least explored gems” and I whole heartedly agree. Even Katsumi was surprised that I was going there. It was exactly what I wanted after the crowdedness of Kyoto and Tokyo. In Takamatsu stayed in a very modern hostel/ cafe/ book store (called Kinco. for anyone interested). I think it was one of two hostels in town. It also had the stacked cube beds. There were about 20 in one big giant warehouse like space and on first look I was a little disappointed (I thought of dogs in kennels) but once I settled my self in to my little cube and saw the amazing, immaculately clean bathrooms I decided that I kinda loved this place.

Takamatsu is known for one of my absolute, most favorite Japanese dishes, udon!! So once settled, I chatted up the lady at reception and asked her where to get the best udon. She gave me a couple of options and I was off. The first night I tried curry udon with a side of sake…it was heavenly. The spiciness of the broth, the squishiness of the noodles and the slurpiness of eating with chopsticks…I’m drooling right now. Sucks but I can’t find the name of the place.

I’ve told this story on Facebook but it’s a good one so I’ll repeat it. On the walk back from udon, I was stopped by a Japanese lady. She asked if I was Nepali and I explained that I was not but that my family was Pakistani. And then…she started speaking to me in Hindi! That saying “does not compute”, that was me in that moment. I was so shocked, I ended up speaking to her in some ridiculous combination of Hindi, Spanish and English. My brain honestly broke. She must have thought I was some kind of lunatic. She was extremely nice which was really awesome but it made me wonder why…turns out she was a Jehovah’s witness. I did not know those existed in Japan. She asked me what I thought about Jesus and Christianity. I told her that I thought all religions had the same purpose and that they were all equally good. She didn’t know what to say to that and then she gave me a brochure and bid me farewell. Such a strange experience! I should have gotten a picture with her. Oh well.

The next day I decided to go explore Naoshima, which is a fantastical island in the Seto Inland Sea that is known for modern art museums, architecture and sculptures. There are two other islands near by that are also art focused but Naoshima is the most well known. There’s a wonderful ferry that takes you over in the morning (takes about an hour) and then goes back in the late afternoon. Perfect day trip. I just can’t believe that there are islands who’s whole purpose is art. Once we arrived in Naoshima I had the option of hopping on a bus that takes you to the museums, rent a bike or walk. It was a bit toasty and I didn’t really know where I was going so I decided to hop on the bus. The bus dropped me off at the Benesse museum. I think this is one of the biggest on the island but it’s really not that big. The space was super cool, the views were magnificent, the art was pretty cool and they had yummy cheese cake! It was a good start. I then walked to the next museum. It was hot but there were cool things to see along the way…like the gourd sculpture, pretty gardens and of course ocean views all along. The next museum was the fanciest I saw. They had a gorgeous Monet and this super cool light and space installation. When you first walk in, you see stairs that lead up to what looks like a wall with a blue screen projected on it. As you go up the stairs and get closer to the screen you realize that it’s not a screen but another room seamlessly lit with blue lights and you can walk in to it. Totally trippy man! Another cool installation had a giant metal ball in a huge veranda with stairs and fixtures all around. Unfortunately, pictures were not allowed but I snuck a few terrible ones in. That was enough gallery viewing for me so I spent the rest of my time walking around the island. It’s a beautiful island with lovely flora and fauna. I especially enjoyed the gorgeous flowers – see too many pictures below. When I got back to the ferry port, I went to a cute little cafe and had some wine and creme brulee until 4 pm rolled around, and I took the last ferry back to Takamatsu.

When I got back to Takamatsu, I noticed that there was some kind of festival going on near the train station.  As I got closer, I realized it was a Hawaiian festival…who am I to skip a Hawaiian festival in Japan? It was pretty cute…with performances, food and trinkets. One performance included below.

Once back at the hostel I met a Japanese girl that was also staying there, Kana. She was there taking some art classes. She was really sweet and practiced her English with me. She also wanted to try some of the awesome udon so that night we went back to the udon place together and I tried a different and equally amazing udon dish. We also got some tempura and sake…yum!

After we got back I asked Kana if she could help me find a place to stay in Iya Valley, my next destination. Google searches had not revealed much in terms of places to stay and mostly provided results in Japanese. She helped me find some potential places and then I got the lady at reception to make a reservation for me. Who needs English when you can smile and charm your way through life :-). So the next day I packed up and headed to the train station. I deposited my luggage spent the day walking around the Takamatsu/ Tamomo Castle ruins while waiting for the train to Oboke in Iya Valley. The ruins were a much more interesting than I expected. In the top three even. Seems the castle changed hands a few times and so the structure changed over time. The garden here was quite nice but I was disappointed that I didn’t get to see Ritsurin garden. My own fault…I thought it was near the train station but it was near the hostel. I guess that just means I’ll have to come back and maybe also go see the other two art islands and the whirlpools! Alas that was the end of my time Takamatsu…on to more adventures in Iya Valley.

Oboke/ Iya Valley

The train ride to Oboke was uneventful but beautiful as we entered the valley. It started raining on the way and once I arrived in Oboke around 2:00pm it started pouring. The guesthouse owner actually picked me up as soon as I got there. I thought he was coming and hour later. I did something culturally stupid then…I extended him a hand shake! Doh! What a rookie mistake…you don’t handshake in Japan! Come on! He shook it quite awkwardly but seemed to ignore it after. He drove us along a beautiful winding road up the mountain to the guesthouse. The house was a family home that had been passed down for many generations within his family. I met the owner’s wife and then was shown to my room. My room was simple but spacious and it had great views of the mountains and a Japanese style mattress. Since it was pouring I stayed in and updated the blog…I wrote about Chile in Japan…I’m writing about Japan in Namibia. Updating blogs takes a long time man. I made some progress until dinner which was at 7. Dinner was prepared by the guesthouse owners. It was outside in a gazebo in the pouring rain. They put up plastic screens to keep the rain out add much as possible. Man the dinner was quite impressive. River fish cooked on a wood plank over a coal fire. They put tofu around the outside to keep the sauce in and fish and vegetables in the middle. Dinner also came with a million side dishes. I’m not a big fish eater but this was a truly spectacular meal. I chatted a bit with the guesthouse owner and another guest but it was a bit hard because of language barriers. But it was a funny, broken conversation.

I forgot to mention Iya Valley is known as being haunted…there was a sculpture outside the train station. I think it either represents the ghost or is intended to ward off the ghosts. There was no description so I don’t really know. Either way it looked cool. More about Iya Valley on wikitravel.

The next morning started with a fabulous breakfast and plenty of sunshine. The guest house owner gave me a ride to the train station where I caught a bus to go see Kazurabashi, one of the several vine bridges in the valley. Kazurabashi is the most well known. On the bus I chatted briefly with a Belgian guy. He highly recommended that I check out the Iya onsen if possible. I added it to the list as a possibility for the day.

There are several stories about how the vine bridges were used…one was to escape enemies and then have the ability to cut them so they couldn’t be followed. The more mundane was to transport goods across the river. Either way the bridge was super cool and rickety…and it provided beautiful views of the valley and the jade green Iya river. I quite enjoyed walking around the area…there was a nice small village by the river. Again beautiful flowers, small shops, trees everywhere…it was just so idyllic. I walked around and sang “rain drops keep falling on my head” to myself thinking of the day before.

As I was waiting at the bus stop to get to the next destination…Iya Onsen…this cute little Japanese girl came up to me. I thought she was asking when the next bus was but to my surprise she was offering me a ride to my next destination. So sweet. I took her up on the offer. I asked her if she was heading that way anyway but she wasn’t…she was planning on going to Mt. Tsungari in the opposite direction. I tired to tell her I’d be happy to go along with her since I would have liked to go there but the bus schedules wouldn’t work. Unfortunately, she didn’t speak much English and couldn’t understand what I was trying to say. So I just said let’s stick with Iya onsen. It was a beautiful ride up the side of the mountain with the river flowing down below. She told me that she was driving all over Japan in her giant car…she looked like a baby next to this huge orange SUV. Even to Okinawa by ferry! Pretty cool. She dropped me off at Iya onsen and we took the requisite selfie and said our goodbyes. I think some Japanese people feel like they have to shake your hand if you are a foreigner…it’s kinda forced and funny. She shook my hand vigorously and for a little too long but I really appreciated the sentiment.

I walked around the building thinking I would go see the peeing boy statue and then see if I had enough time for the onsen…but the onsen was right there so I decided to go there first. You pay the hotel to use the onsen. I had a choice of indoor or open air. I went with open air, of course. To get to this onsen you take a cool cable car down the mountain to the river…so nice. Once you’re down there you follow the normal Japanese customs about shoes and clothes but you don’t have to shower before you get in to the hot spring because it is flowing water. The hot spring was actually a warm spring and it was magnificent! All around you have views of the gorgeous valley and the river. The water in the spring had natural minerals so it almost seemed soapy against your skin and it was a bit bubbly so the little bubbles that formed on your skin would occasionally travel up your back in a delicious tingly way. It was wonderful! By the time I was done with the open air and indoor hot spring it was time for the next bus so I missed the peeing boy statue. Oh well. I think I made the right choice with this awesome onsen.

I caught the next bus and I tried to explain to the bus driver that I needed to switch buses at the post office to get back to the train station (this was crucial and I had been instructed by the lady at the train station) but he didn’t understand and took me all the way back to the vine bridge wah wah…this would have been ok except that the next bus to the train station from there was not for another 1.5 hours…and it was getting hot. So I decided to try hitchhiking on purpose…and a couple stopped within a minute of me sticking out my thumb! After a bit of back and forth and me pointing at a map we figured out they were going towards Oboke station anyway so they would take me! Hitchhiking success! But wait it gets better..Kana (lady), Diasuke (dude) and I started speaking in broken English and Google translate and turns out they live in Kochi which is where I was headed next. Oh and so were they…so they offered to take me! So nice! So we stopped at Oboke station to collect my luggage and we headed to Kochi! The road to Kochi pretty much follows along the Iya river. Spectacular views all along. We played a guessing game of how old I am. They started with 22! I like these guys. I learned that it was Kana’s 34th birthday. Happy birthday! Diasuke played us some nice jazz by Greg Porter and then played the Eagles. He also told me to check out a Japanese jazz artist named Kuni Mikami. I also learned that they love the Simpsons…I mentioned the episode where Homer becomes Mr. Sparkle…Diasuke has the t-shirt! Such a cool couple. We took the requisite selfie once they dropped me off.

Kochi

From the Kochi train station and I walked to the guesthouse where I was staying. The guesthouses are a bit different from hostels, they have a bit more of a shared home feel rather than a hostel feel. I didn’t find this place via hostelworld or booking but instead through a simple Google search. The folks here were all friends or friends of friends and they all cooked, joked, and ate together. Some had been there over a month. Maki is the owner and was very sweet. She has actually traveled to Pakistan and trekked the Hunza region. Apparently, Japanese people that like trekking are big fans of the area. Kana, whom I met in Takamatsu had been there as well. I also met Yuko, Chechi (probably spelling her name wrong) and Mae. Mae shared a room with me and was pregnant…she was so adorable. C had just finished engineering school and was getting used to her new job. She walked me over to the fried chicken place for some Chicken Namba. Yuko was volunteering at the guesthouse to gain experience. She had spent a year and a half in Canada so her English is perfect. She’s from Yamaguchi and wanted to explore Kochi as well and she was kind enough to invite me to come with her. So the next day we headed out to Karama beach…one of the top three beaches in the area ;-). At this beach there is also a statue of Ryoma who is a famous Japanese samurai/ policy maker that helped Japan move away from feudalism to a more modern infrastructure. There is also a museum about him. The pebble beach was very nice with a stone outcropping with a tiny shrine. The statue was quite large and impressive. There was a plaque that said you should have a chat with Ryoma…I had a deep conversation about the weather with him. Yuko talked to him too but they didn’t really have a connection like him and I did. It happens sometimes you know. The museum had a great rooftop with great views of the beach. We went up there and chatted a bit about Japanese culture and how safe Japan is. Yuko told me that Japanese people are sometimes too peaceful. You can leave your worldly possessions sitting on a public bench and no one will bother it…or they will turn it into lost and found. This is unbelievably amazing me, especially coming from the hood in Atlanta and having just come from South America. It’s unfortunate because per Yuko, the Japanese are so ‘peaceful’ they are more likely to be taken advantage of overseas. I can see that.
Anyway, after our long chat we went into the museum. It has a lot of Japanese documents that I couldn’t read and a bit of info about Ryoma’s family. It also had information about how Ryoma was assassinated in a Kyoto hotel along with one of his friends. He was only 33. Very sad.

After visiting with Ryoma we headed to the Giowan Observatory which provides great views of all of Kochi. Pretty cool.

The plan after was to go to Hirome market, a famous izakaya in Kochi. Unfortunately, it was closed :-(. I was told the place is closed only 5 times a year…lucky me. Since that plan failed, Yuko texted Maki for another recommendation. She suggested a place down the street and told us to sit at the bar. We followed instructions and it paid off. The staff at this place were super friendly. The main guy spoke a little bit of English and told me to call him Gano. He also had me write down my name for him so he would remember. There was a Chinese lady working there…O san and another lady whose name means happy girl (Samichi) but she told us she’s not really that happy…haha. We got some Kochi sake and our food journey began. Our first dish was Katsuo no tataki, which is seared bonito in a ponzou sauce…delicious (oishi)! Next we tried Yakitori of young and old chicken with some karashi (spicy yellow paste…kinda like wasabi) and a soy based sauce. Ah..so amazing! I liked the young chicken better than the old…old was a bit chewy. The sauce mixed with the paste was heavenly. Next we got some tiny fish called Gori that were fried whole (bones and eyeballs included). This grew on us after a while. It was like eating chips. The next dish was squid Yakitori…good but a bit chewy. They like chewy in Japan so I’m clearly the weirdo here. Next we had some tempura fried fish and we decided to get the high end sake…yum! Yuko taught me how to ask someone their name – ana tano namewa nan deska..I think. I taught her useless words like hazey, pebbles and one other that I don’t remember. Since we were nice and buzzy at this point we decided to head out. I needed to get my train ticket for Osaka and Yuko was kind enough to walk with me. I got my ticket, bought some local ice cream and local sake and headed to my hotel to chill before the train to Osaka.

I must say that Shikoku Island was definitely one of my top three destinations in Japan. It might even be the top one. The people, the scenery, the history and most importantly the food all made Shikoku one of the most memorable places I’ve been on this journey.  I’ll need to go back one day.

Osaka

May 19 – May 20, 2016

So this means absolutely nothing to me but is a big deal in Japan…I got to ride on the Anpanman train in the Anpanman car! It was cute and adequate :-).

Three hours later I was in Osaka and I was meeting with sweet Aline from Hokkaido! I has whined to her while I was in Iya Valley that I didn’t have anyone to talk to and she was nice enough to come up with a plan for us to meet again. It took me a while to find her, either because I can’t read or the train station had faulty signs. I’m blaming the train station. I found her eventually…after hugs and hellos, our first thought was…so what shall we do? We locked up our luggage in the fancy coin lockers and headed to Osakajo Castle. There is a very convenient train that loops around the center of the city. So helpful. The castle was cool and shiny. There was a moat inner and outer…we considered swimming it but were worried about the deadly turtles and ducks. We climbed some stairs to nowhere…passed by a million kids that were randomly screaming hello at strangers (it was really funny actually) and then we walked down a little pathway with a lot of cats.

During our wanderings, Aline updated me on her relationship with famous 22 year old Japanese baseball player whose name we don’t remember. Things are going well for them. And Aline told me about the new love in her life…a new backpack she saw at the Osaka train station mall. Have I mentioned that the big city train stations have a mall and whole foods on crack attached? The Japanese are all about convenience!
After our walk we had a nice lunch…I had Japanese curry and Aline had a soup with tofu. Oh and we tried avocado cheesecake, it was interesting. It was a bit dry and they served it with a tart yogurt and honey…it didn’t really work together. I think the avocado cheesecake could be improved upon…it has potential. After lunch we decided we must go buy the backpack. So we headed back to Osaka station, hunted down the backpack and I even got some souvenirs. Afterwards we searched for mochi. I found some mango mochi with fresh mango inside. Aline tried some weird mochi/spinach popsicle thing. More power to her. And then it was time to say goodbye again :-(. She headed on to Kyoto and I went to my hostel closer to the airport in Osaka.  It was so great to see her once again before parting ways.

I saw a nice sunset on the way and I actually really liked the hostel…Greenwood Hostel. I still had the sake I had bought so I shared that with the guy working there and a guy from Netherlands. There was a borderline offensive Australian lady there too. She essentially asked me how I could possibly survive being brown in Georgia. Told her very easily considering Atlanta has people from all over the world. Strange pushy lady. Oh and I got to try Takoyaki…which is kind of a octopus fritter but not really because is gooey not crispy. Delicious! Octopus was delicious too but chewy…I need to get over this chewy aversion.  It was fun to watch them make it as well. I really wanted to try okonomiyaki but its porky wah wah. The next morning I caught a flight to Okinawa.

Food definitions for your reference:

Katsuo no tataki (seared bonito)
Gori (tiny fried fish)
Yakitori (meat on a stick – squid and young and old chicken)
Karashi (yellow paste spicy)
Takoyaki (octopus fritter…kinda)
Okonomiyaki (porky pancake)

Wow, this was a long one…okay…just one more blog about Japan and then I can finally move on to Southeast Asia.